Parlotones at Paul Cluver Amphitheatre review

In Cape Town we are lucky to have some spectacular concert venues. Kirstenbosch Gardens is one of them, and Vergelegen another, and Backsberg is also an option. But one of the best, which I only visited for the first time recently, is the amphitheatre at Paul Cluver.

Why do I say it’s the best? Well it’s on a beautiful wine estate and it’s very intimate (only 600 people), but the main reason is that it’s charmingly rustic. It’s in the middle of a forest, in fact you want to be careful where you sit as you may have a tree blocking your view of the stage. I chatted to The Parlotones after their concert and they also agreed that while they have played at some amazing venues, the Paul Cluver amphitheatre was their favourite (great guys, The Parlotones, very glad I got to meet them).

They also have a great lineup of performers:

Sat 8th Jan – NATANIEL (R175)
Sat 29th Jan – ARNO CARSTENS (R250)
Fri 4th & Sat 5th Feb – IMOGEN HEAP (R395)
Sat 12 Feb – WATERSHED (R250)
Sat 26 Feb – STEF BOS (R175)
Sat 12 Mar – FRESHLYGROUND (R295)

The tickets are quite pricey for some of the shows but they explained to me that all they do is divide the performers fee by 600 and that’s the ticket price. They don’t make any money from the concerts. Also the concerts don’t happen every week so it’s more of a special occasion.

I was concerned about the distance as Paul Cluver is in Elgin, but it only took an hour from Seapoint which is not that bad. It takes me 30mins just to get to Kirstenbosch and that’s if I go early to avoid the traffic. The concerts are also on Saturday nights so they don’t clash with Kirstenbosch and Backsberg.

You’re allowed to take a picnic but not your own booze. Paul Cluver wines are available at cellar door prices. If you don’t want to go to the trouble of packing a picnic, there are food vendors offering sushi and picnic stuff there. Whatever you do, I recommend taking a picnic blanket to sit on and warm clothes as it gets cold when the sun sets.

Do yourself a favour and get to at least one of these concerts.

Find more information on their website: http://www.cluver.com/amphitheatre